Moyers & Company

This series investigates issues that matter to American democracy, particularly the continuing influence of big money and corporate self-interest on politics, the economy and daily life. Each week, veteran journalist Bill Moyers hosts compelling conversations with today's top thinkers about new ideas, crucial issues and workable solutions. Select episodes also feature Moyers' own meticulously researched essays on a variety of topics.

Moyers & Company Previous Broadcasts

Wendell Berry: Poet & Prophet (Episode #247H)

KQED Plus: Fri, Nov 29, 2013 -- 11:00 PM

* Wendell Berry, a quiet and humble man, has become an outspoken advocate for revolution. He urges immediate action as he mourns how America has turned its back on the land and rejected Jeffersonian principles of respect for the environment and sustainable agriculture. Berry warns, "People who own the world outright for profit will have to be stopped; by influence, by power, by us." In a rare television interview, this visionary, author - and farmer - discusses a sensible, but no-compromise plan to save the Earth. In an encore broadcast, Bill Moyers profiles this passionate advocate, a man of the land and one of America's most influential writers, whose prolific career includes more than 40 books of poetry, novels, short stories, and essays. This one-on-one conversation was taped at Kentucky's St. Catharine College during a two-day celebrating Wendell Berry's life and ideas and marking the 35th anniversary of the publication of his landmark book, The Unsettling of America. Berry, described by environmental activist Bill McKibben as "a prophet of responsibility," lives and works on the Kentucky farm where his family has tilled the soil for 200 years. He's a man of action as well as words. In 2011, he joined a four-day sit-in at the Kentucky governor's office to protest mountaintop mining, a brutally destructive method of extracting coal. Moyers explores Berry's views on civil disobedience as well as his strong opposition to agribusiness and massive industrial farms, as well as his support for sustainable farming and the local food movement. "It's mighty hard right now to think of anything that's precious that isn't endangered," Berry tells Moyers. "There are no sacred and unsacred places; there are only sacred and desecrated places. My belief is that the world and our life in it are conditional gifts. We have the world to live in on the condition that we will take good care of it. And to take good care of it we have to know it. And to know it and to be willing to take care of it, we have to love it." * Also on the broadcast, Bill presents the short documentary Dance of the Honey Bee. Narrated by Bill McKibben, the film takes a look at the determined, beautiful and vital role honey bees play in preserving life, as well as the threats bees face from a rapidly changing landscape. "Not only are we dependent on the honey bee for much of what we eat," says Bill, "there is, of course, a grace and elegance they bring to the natural world that would diminish us all were they to disappear."

Repeat Broadcasts:

KQED World: Sat, Nov 30, 2013 -- 12:00 PM

KQED World: Sat, Nov 30, 2013 -- 7:00 AM

KQED Plus: Sat, Nov 30, 2013 -- 5:00 AM

Zombie Politics and Casino Capitalism (Episode #246H)

KQED Plus: Fri, Nov 22, 2013 -- 11:00 PM

In his book Zombie Politics and Culture in the Age of Casino Capitalism, author and scholar Henry Giroux connects the dots, threading together ideas and experiences to prove his theory that our current system is informed by a "machinery of social and civil death" that chills "any vestige of a robust democracy." This week on Moyers &Company (check local listings), Giroux explains that such a machine turns people into zombies - "people who are basically so caught up with surviving that they become like the walking dead - they lose their sense of agency, they lose their homes, they lose their jobs." What's more, Giroux points out, the system that creates this vacuum has little to do with expanding the meaning and the substance of democracy itself. Under "casino capitalism," the goal is to get a quick return, taking advantage of a kind of logic in which the only thing that drives us is to put as much money as we can into a slot machine and hope we walk out with our wallets overflowing. A cultural and social critic of tireless energy and vast interests, Giroux holds the Global TV Network Chair in the English and Cultural Studies Department at McMaster University and is a distinguished visiting professor at Reyerson University, both schools in Canada. Described by Moyers as "torch bearer in the art and science of teaching," he has been an important contributor in a variety of academic fields, including cultural, youth and media studies. Also on the broadcast, Bill Moyers remembers a 2003 interview with Nobel-prize winning novelist Doris Lessing who passed away this week in London at the age of 94. And a look at "Birth of the Living Dead", a mesmerizing new documentary that examines the singular time in which the classic film "Night of the Living Dead" was shot - when civil unrest and violence gave the nation nightmares, and zombies were a metaphor for an American public troubled and distressed.

Repeat Broadcasts:

KQED Plus: Mon, Nov 25, 2013 -- 12:00 AM

KQED World: Sun, Nov 24, 2013 -- 8:00 PM

KQED 9: Sun, Nov 24, 2013 -- 4:00 PM

KQED World: Sun, Nov 24, 2013 -- 11:30 AM

KQED World: Sun, Nov 24, 2013 -- 3:00 AM

KQED World: Sat, Nov 23, 2013 -- 12:00 PM

KQED World: Sat, Nov 23, 2013 -- 7:00 AM

KQED Plus: Sat, Nov 23, 2013 -- 5:00 AM

The Path of Positive Resistance (Episode #245H)

KQED Plus: Fri, Nov 15, 2013 -- 11:00 PM

* Between them, doctors Jill Stein and Margaret Flowers have been arrested 9 times. In the face of injustice and government by the 1%, rather than look the other way and stick to practicing medicine they chose a different approach. At first they took separate paths. Margaret Flowers fought for single payer health insurance. She works for the organization Physicians for a National Health Program and is a contributor to PopularResistance.org, a website advocating nonviolent direct action against injustice. Jill Stein advocated for campaign finance reform in her home state of Massachusetts, working in 1998 with others in her community to pass the Clean Election Law. She co-founded the Massachusetts Coalition for Healthy Communities in 2003 and represented the Green-Rainbow Party for governor in 2002, for State Representative in 2004 and for Secretary of State in 2006. She was the Green Party candidate for president in 2012. Now Stein and Flowers are both members of the Green Shadow Cabinet, a group of 100 prominent men and women offering alternative policy and speaking out in an organized voice against a dysfunctional government. Stein serves as president and Flowers as secretary of health. Each fights against political corruption and a host of grievances that that have led many people to cynicism and despair. This week, Bill Moyers speaks with Stein and Flowers about their personal journeys, what they have learned about our political system along the way and why they continue to fight the good fight. "Once you start speaking truth to power and standing up for the right things, it's very empowering," Margaret Flowers tells Bill. "After the Occupy movement disbanded and people kept saying, 'Oh, it's gone, it went away,' it didn't go away. It inspired others to stand up for their rights. So we see low wage workers all around the country standing up. And now states that are starting to raise their minimum wages. We see anti-foreclosure activists fighting back and people being able to stay in their homes. We see communities creating democratic economic institutions so that they can lift themselves out of poverty. These things are happening. They're not covered in the mass media. They're not funded by the big funders. But they're happening in this country. " * Also on the broadcast, Bill reports back on viewer response to our recent segments on drone attacks and government surveillance and previews the new film "Following the Ninth," a documentary exploring the worldwide cultural and political influence of Beethoven's masterpiece, the Ninth Symphony, and its majestic "Ode to Joy."

Repeat Broadcasts:

KQED World: Sun, Nov 17, 2013 -- 8:00 PM

KQED 9: Sun, Nov 17, 2013 -- 4:00 PM

KQED World: Sun, Nov 17, 2013 -- 11:30 AM

KQED World: Sun, Nov 17, 2013 -- 3:00 AM

KQED World: Sat, Nov 16, 2013 -- 12:00 PM

KQED Plus: Sat, Nov 16, 2013 -- 5:00 AM

How Dollarocracy Is Destroying America (Episode #244H)

KQED Plus: Fri, Nov 8, 2013 -- 11:00 PM

The money and power behind this week's election results confirm what everybody knows: democracy is under siege. We, the People, don't control our leaders; moneyed interests get their way. Corporations are free to buy politicians, judges, and elections with virtually unlimited cash, and big media conglomerates reap billions from political advertising. We idealize the notion of political equality in the voting booth but eviscerate it in practice, caught in the clutches of a "money-and-media complex" not unlike the vast "military-industrial complex" President Eisenhower warned us about more than half a century ago. No one knows the dangers better than John Nichols and Robert McChesney. Nichols is Washington correspondent for The Nation and a pioneering political blogger. McChesney is a leading scholar of communications and society and a professor at the University of Illinois. Together, ten years ago, they became the founding figures of the media reform movement Free Press ? and have never flagged in challenging the Big Money and Big Media that, combined, corrupt our democracy. Their latest book is Dollarocracy: How the Money and Media Election Complex Is Destroying America. This week, Bill Moyers speaks with Nichols and McChesney. "Democracy means rule of the people, one person, one vote, " McChesney says. "'Dollarocracy' means the rule of the dollars. One dollar, one vote. Those with lots of dollars have lots of power. Those with no dollars have no power." "'Dollarocracy' has the ability to animate dead ideas," Nichols tells Moyers."You can take an idea that's a bad idea, buried by the voters. 'Dollarocracy' can dig it up and that zombie idea will walk among us."

Repeat Broadcasts:

KQED Plus: Mon, Nov 11, 2013 -- 12:00 AM

KQED World: Sun, Nov 10, 2013 -- 8:00 PM

KQED 9: Sun, Nov 10, 2013 -- 4:00 PM

KQED World: Sun, Nov 10, 2013 -- 11:30 AM

KQED World: Sun, Nov 10, 2013 -- 3:00 AM

KQED World: Sat, Nov 9, 2013 -- 12:00 PM

KQED World: Sat, Nov 9, 2013 -- 7:00 AM

KQED Plus: Sat, Nov 9, 2013 -- 5:00 AM

The Top Secret Trade Deal You Need to Know About (Episode #243H)

KQED Plus: Fri, Nov 1, 2013 -- 11:00 PM

You may remember how in the '90's the Clinton Administration talked us into NAFTA - the North American Free Trade Agreement - with the promise of jobs and cheaper goods. According to economist Dean Baker, in the end, NAFTA wound up helping corporations and didn't do much for American workers. In fact, there are economists who say that in the US, NAFTA cost nearly a million jobs. Now, there's another trade deal in the works that's even bigger - "NAFTA on steroids" as some describe it. The Trans-Pacific Partnership is a coalition of North and South American and Asian trading partners that many believe could give multinational corporations even greater freedom to ignore borders and run roughshod over individual countries and the rule of law. At least that's what it may be about - negotiations are being carried on in secret and very little about the terms has leaked out. But enough is known to worry about the implications of the Trans-Pacific Partnership and its possible effect on trade unions and our copyright and patent laws, not to mention environmental, health and safety regulations. This week, Bill Moyers discusses the Trans-Pacific Partnership with two perceptive observers of the global economy. Yves Smith, an expert on investment banking, runs the Naked Capitalism blog, a go-to site for information and insight on the business and ethics of finance. Dean Baker is co-director of the progressive Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, DC. and has worked as a consultant to Congress and the World Bank. * Also on this week's broadcast, a preview of filmmaker Robert Greenwald's new documentary, Unmanned: America's Drone Wars. The release coincided with a first: victims of deadly drone attacks testified at a special briefing for members of Congress. In this week's show we feature clips from the film, which shares testimony, stories, and alarming news on the fatal impact of our drone strategy. * And a Bill Moyers essay on Obamacare's rocky rollout.

TV Technical Issues

TV Technical Issues

(DT9.1 through 9.3) KQED will be performing maintenance at Sutro Tower in the overnight hours early Thursday 12/08. We are
expecting a few power interruptions to take place and KQED will need to be off air for these. The outages are expected to
be brief.

(this is a continuation of the work originally announced for 11/28, which was not completed on Tuesday.) At some point during
the morning of Wednesday Nov. 30th, the KQEH transmitter will switch from its main antenna to the auxillary one, to allow
for the safety of workers doing maintenance for another TV station on the […]